Book Description

"He knows to live, who keeps the middle state, And neither leans on this side or on that; Nor stops, for one bad cork, his butler's pay; Swears, like Albutius, a good cook away; Nor lets, like Nevius, every error pass—The musty wine, foul cloth, or greasy glass." Horace Smith's novel "Interludes..." is a compilation of essays, a sketch and verses of poetry. Smith's first essay is a great piece on literary criticism and he gives at least six qualities of what good criticism should look like. For as he says, "I am certain that if men and women would believe that it is important that they should form a true judgment upon things, and that they should speak or write it when required, we should get rid of a great deal of bad art, bad books, bad pictures, bad buildings, bad music, and bad morals..."